That Sinking Feeling

A few unemployed young men in Glasgow settle on the only money-making idea they can think of: steal stainless steel sinks from a warehouse and sell them. The problem is how to move ninety of them and who would buy them. Bill Forsyth made his first film for almost nothing, using performers from a local youth theatre and virtually no professionals. The humour is dry in the Scottish manner, with nobody signalling a joke and hopelessness sitting behind everything. Its best quality is conveying unemployment without addressing it: these boys have nothing else to do, and that is the whole point. It is counted among the films that got Scottish cinema going. Who it is for: viewers who like British independent comedy and low-budget first features. Who it is not for: anyone wanting pace and polish, since this is slow and raw.